Downward Spirals
by RachelLovesYou6
Summary: They love each other, but others don't want them to. What will happen when their parents set them up with other people and they're forced together? As you read, you will come across love, drama, and the journey to keep one's life from falling apart.


**Well Hey. I got this idea from a friend, MunroCArmy (twitter). And thank you for helping me out!  
>This is not exactly like the story line; I wanted something new and different. This will include Jake and Imogen, but mostly EClare (: Anyways. If you don't like the idea of Eli and Clare being with other people, I don't care. But please. You are going to like this story. Just give it a chance (:<strong>

**OOO**

**Chapter 1- You Have My Heart**

OOO

**Eli**

I was dreading this day. New school, new life, new everything. I never wanted any of this. My ex-girlfriend is dead and I can't even see the one I love now. Our parents always fight. They don't want us to be a 'thing'. I haven't seen her in months; sure we talked on the phone and on IM, but I miss her warmth when she hugs me; I miss her touch, her kisses. Yes, we've sneaked around; we got into trouble about it too. My parents made me move away, as well as hers.

I sighed and smiled, knowing that she goes to this school. I haven't told my parents because they are going to take me away again. I can never live without her. Does she know I'm here? No. She does not. She thinks I'm going to this school across town. When I see her, I am just going to march up to her, and hug her; I can't wait to see her face again.

I walked up the steps to the doors of Degrassi Community School. As soon as I walked in, all eyes were on me. People started whispering to their friends '_look at that emo kid. He's new' _was all I heard. It didn't bother me because I've been called those names millions of times before. I shook off the thought as I gave some of the bigger guys a death glare as I turned the corner into the office.

"Elijah Goldsworthy." I whispered, looking at the small old lady typing on her computer. She typed in my name and smiled lightly as she came across my profile.  
>"Ah, yes. We have assigned you for someone to show you around. This is Adam Torres. He has two classes with you, and he volunteered to help out." I turned my head and saw a tall boy with a gray beanie. I nodded my head up at him as I grabbed my schedule and walked out the door.<p>

"Hey, I'm Adam." He broke the silence as we walked down the hallway into the crowded area.  
>"Eli." I smirked as I looked around the hall, seeing if I could recognize anyone, and sure enough, I saw those blue eyes like a sea of diamonds.<br>"I'll be back." I whispered, walking away from Adam I heard him faintly say 'okay' but I didn't respond. I walked right up to her, and by now her back was facing me. I stopped at the doorway and smirked as she struggled putting things in her locker. Something fell, and she didn't seem to notice. I thought this would be the perfect time to show myself.

"Um, excuse me. I think you dropped this." I whispered, she still didn't hear me.  
>"Excuse me, miss. I think you dropped this." I repeated.<br>"Look, if you are here to make fun of me then fu—"she turned around and she stopped dead in her tracks. Her mouth moved but nothing was coming out. "Eli…" she whispered, her confused expression turning into a bright and happy smile. "When did you get here?" She walked towards me, our bodies only inches apart.  
>"I moved here a few days ago. I wanted this to be a surprise." I showed her my famous smirk and looked down at my feet. As much as I wanted to kiss her, I knew I couldn't, this school has a stupid no PDA rule so the teachers are at every corner.<p>

She smiled and wrapped her arms around my waist, as I wrapped mine around her. "I missed you." I heard her whisper. I smiled lightly to myself as I whispered back, "I missed you too."

**OOO**

"It's been months, how have you all been?" She said while laying her head down on my chest as our fingers interlaced with each others.  
>"We've been okay, I guess. We moved here because I was having problems at school."<br>"What kind of problems?" She whispered, laying her free hand on my stomach.  
>"When I moved away, I turned into a whole different person. I changed my look and how I acted. I always got into fights at school, detention every other week. The reason why, is because I never saw you."<p>

I could feel her smile as I said that, "I saw you on IM, though." She said while turning around to face me.  
>"It's not the same." I stated looking up at the purple and pink sky. "How have you guys been?"<p>

"Fine, actually. My parents got divorced. And I know I shouldn't be happy about that, but just its quiet around now. Anyways, my sister came back from Kenya and she's living in an apartment down the street from me. You're right though, when we moved things just has been different. I still got good grades, but I never opened up to anyone. It's felt like a huge part of me went missing."

I looked down at her and smiled as Clare stared at me for a few seconds. She slowly leaned up, making me shoot her a confused glare as she slowly kissed my forehead, to my nose, and finally planted a soft kiss on my lips. As she did this, sparks flew around us. It was like our first kiss we shared.

"What if we get caught?" I asked breaking the kiss, instantly missing her lips against mine as she leaned back.  
>"It's never stopped us before." She whispered seductively against my skin. Shivers went down my spine as she kissed my jaw line, down to my neck.<p>

"C-Clare, stop please," I stuttered, she pulled back giving me one of those looks that I could never say no to. "Not here, I just arrived and… my mom always seems to show up when things get hot and heavy, just not today."

You're probably thinking, 'but Eli, you love her.' Right? Well, of course I love her. It just seems like it's not the right time to pick up where we left off at the moment. Yes, I want to kiss Clare every second of the day, hold her close to me at night, and whisper in her ear how beautiful she is. But I haven't told her about Imogen yet. My mom had set me up with this chick not long ago, her parents and mine were good friends and we ended up living in the same area.

My mom came home one day with Imogen, telling me I needed to forget about Clare and to move on. I declined at first, but my mom forced me to go on a date with her. She had a dark brown hair and brown eyes, almost too similar to Julia. And that's one of the reason I fell in love with her. Did I ever tell her? No. I didn't want to date her. I never wanted to. We're just friends… with benefits.

Imogen came to live with her grandma in our old city, so my mom always thought it would be a good idea to date during that period of time. I love talking to her, but when she kissed me, the world suddenly stopped. She knew about Clare, and whenever she threw herself at me like that, she always stated to pretend she was Clare so I wouldn't be nervous. I did, but it never worked, she didn't taste like Clare at all. Imogen always smelled of strong perfume and a cinnamon scent. I could never picture her as Clare. Never.

Now that she knows I moved close to her, she has been calling me non-stop and texting me every second. She doesn't know that Clare lives around here too, so when they both find out I'm in deep shit.

My cell phone buzzed, practically making Clare jump off my lap. I laughed and opened the phone, hearing my mom's high pitched voice exit the phone.  
>"Come home now, Elijah. We need to unpack."<br>"Do I have too, I'm with Cla—" Clare shot me a death glare and shook her head. "I'm on my way." I sighed sadly.

I gave Clare a quick kiss goodbye as she walked down the street slowly fading as she got further away from me. I walked slowly home, blasting music from my iPod as I came upon my brand new house. It was a dark brick color, with black shutters. Just how I liked it. Dark.

"Mom, I'm home!" I yelled as I threw my things onto the couch, smelling the scent of cookies lingering in the air.

"Mom?" I asked again, walking slowly into the kitchen. When I turned the corner, my eyes widened. This can't be happening right now.

"Imogen, what are you doing here?" I asked backing away from her. I didn't want to see her right now, I had too much on my mind.  
>"I saw you with her, Eli. What will your mother say when she finds out you're hanging with Clare?" She said in her annoying tone.<p>

"You won't say anything to her, Imogen." She raised her eyebrow and stepped closer to me, making my back press up against the wall. Her body was barley touching mine as she closed the space between us.  
>"Where's my mom?" I asked.<br>"She's at work, won't be back until late." She wiggled her eyebrow and laid her hand on my belt buckle, slowly undoing it.

"No… no Imogen, stop." I yelled slipping past her with a frightened look on my face.  
>"What's the matter Eli? Afraid your little girlfriend is going to find out?"<br>"She's not my girlfriend."

She stepped closer to me, "Then why are you so afraid?" She whispered pressing her hand against my chest.

"Because, I don't love you." I pulled back, as her mouth fell open.  
>"What are you talking about? Of course you love me."<br>"No, I love Clare."  
>"Did you forget what happened that night at the party? You said you loved me! You told me that you would never leave me for anyone!"<br>"You always stated to pretend you were Clare, right? So there you go."  
>"You're a dick, Eli. Just never speak to me again."<p>

A tear escaped her eye as she ran out the door and down the street. I stood there confused, and I felt like I was totally violated. I sat down on the couch as my mom came through the door with a pile of groceries in her arms. I ran over and grabbed a few boxes; placing them on the kitchen table.

"Go to your bedroom and start unpacking, you have the paint color you wanted and everything up there. We need to get this done." She yelled from the living room. I agreed and walked the steep flight of stairs to my bedroom at the end of the hallway.

As I opened the door, the blinds were open, making the white walls a brighter white than before. I sighed and got some old clothes out so I could go ahead and start painting my room.

I opened the can as the strong scent of the paint hit me as I covered my nose and mouth with a cloth. I grabbed the remote from my desk and pressed play as music started blasting throughout my room.

I got done very quickly, maybe I was just determined to get this done and over with. I smirked as I looked over the walls, touching up a few extra areas. I turned the music down as I walked out of my room and gathered the pieces of my bed to put together. I was humming a song that Clare showed me as something hit my window. I jumped and looked out the window to see a bright pair of blue eyes looking up at me. I smiled at her as she slowly climbed up the pipe leading into my room.

I pulled her into a tight embrace as she entered, sinking in her sweet vanilla scent. She looked up at me and pressed a light kiss on my lips and pulled away, looking all around my room.

"Still the dark side, huh?" She giggled and sat down on the floor, using her eyes to tell me to sit down with her. I nodded my head and kneeled down, reaching my arm out to wrap around her waist to pull her closer. She rested her hand on my chest as her head laid on my shoulder. We didn't talk, but this is how we liked it. Just the company of us together like this was enough for each of us. I heard Clare's breathing get lower as I realized she fell asleep in my arms. I smiled and kissed her head, "I love you." I whispered as I laid down, trying my best not to wake her.

**OOO**

_Eli, we need to talk. Call me, please? – Imogen_

I sighed at the text as I exited out of the message. I wanted to tell Imogen that I was done with her, I wanted to tell her Clare was back. I know I sound like a huge asshole right now, but I was using Imogen to forget about Clare. But when Imogen stated to me that I could pretend she was Clare whenever we fooled around, it made me more in love with Clare that I could ever imagine.

"You ready?" Clare asked as she interlaced our fingers together. I looked up at the entrance of the school, dreading to actually start my first full day.  
>"I guess." I mumbled, rolling my eyes. Clare stood in front of me and placed her hand on my cheek.<br>"It'll will be fine, Eli. I have every class with you except gym and math." She whispered placing her hand on the back of my neck, sending shivers down my spine.

We walked in the school and the first person we walked into was Imogen. Wonderful. She looked down at our hands as her jaw dropped. Tears filled her eyes as she walked the other direction. I smirked and looked down at Clare who was smiling like she just won something.

"What's up baby?" I spoke, making her turn a light shade of pink.  
>"Imogen Moreno. That bitch. I've never liked her. Ever since you've came, she has stopped on the teasing and looks like she's jealous that I can actually keep a steady relationship."<p>

Damn. Who knew Miss Saint Clare had such harsh words.

"What did she do to you?" I asked sitting down in our English class, wanting to see what Imogen has been doing to _my_ Clare.

"She hit me, threw me all over the place, knocked me down, oh and she invited me over to her house one time, remember how I had long hair?" I nodded. "Well she decided it would be cool to cut it off. So that's why I have short hair now."

That bitch.

"She called my friend, Adam a tranny. He's the one who showed you around the other day. She put stuff in my locker, and embarrassed me in front of the whole school by calling me a bible humper." She looked down sadly and played with her pen. "Just promise me you won't get involved with her." My eyes widened at I looked up at Clare who had a serious look on her face. I nodded; I needed to tell Clare about Imogen.

"Hey Clare—" I was cut off by the bell ringing as the teacher walked in, "Okay class, get with partners… these will be your partners for the rest of the semester. You have 20 seconds." His deep scratchy voice reminded me of Bullfrogs. I smirked as tapped Clare on the shoulder, who instantly turned around, leaning onto my desk. "So partner, we have to write about something that really gets is motivated, like gets us where we want to go each and every day."

I know exactly what I'm going to write about. I smiled to myself and looked up at Clare, who was giving me a weird look.  
>"What?" I asked wiggling my eyebrows at her. She giggled and wrote her name neatly on the paper.<br>"What did you need to tell me?" She asked throwing her pen down on the table, her blue eyes locking with mine.  
>"I'll tell you later, dinner tonight?" Her eyes lit up as she smiled and nodded her head. "Great, I'll pick you up at 7. Dress nicely." I winked at her and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek. Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink as she tried her best not to smile for the rest of the class period.<p>

When she turned around, I secretly pulled out my phone, texting Imogen a message back.

_Sorry, I have plans tonight with Clare, you know her right? Beautiful, smart, most amazing girl in the world, anyways, didn't I say I was done with you?—Eli_

Okay, so I sounded a little harsh. But she deserves it after what I heard about what she was doing with my Clare. I wanted Imogen out of my life, I didn't need her anymore. All I wanted to focus on was Clare.

**OOO**

"Are you sure I'm not over dressed?" Clare asked again, making me laugh. She was wearing a dress that went to about her knees and had her hair curled more than it usually was. Her makeup was on lighter than usual and she had on a silver heart shaped necklace. I smiled down at it, remembering that I gave it to her the night I was moving away.

"You're perfect." I whispered interlacing our fingers together and briefly kissing her hand. She smiled and leaned over resting her head on my shoulder, "I'm glad you moved here. I was so lost without you, Imogen treated me like shit." She said while using her thumb to make small circular motions on my palm.  
>"Clare that's what I need to talk to you about, it's about Imogen." I regretted that. I don't want to tell her. Not now.<p>

"What about her?" Clare asked sitting up and turning to face me.  
>"It's just… her grandma lived close to me back when I moved away, and she went there every weekend. And well, my mom set me up with her." I stopped and looked at Clare, her eyes were glossy and her mouth was slightly open.<p>

"I never liked her though. I didn't even know she knew you. I told her about you, and how nothing was going to get between us but she threw herself at me."  
>"Eli, did you… have sex with her?"<p>

"Oh god no. Never, I told her I was waiting for my first time with you. But she always tried to; she would pin me down and touch me." My eyes filled with tears, I never told anyone this before, "When I moved back here, I knew you were here. I came home after we hung out at the park and she told me to pretend she was you, so she kissed me. I tried to pretend she was you, but I couldn't. I pulled back and yelled at her face that I love you, Clare, and I will never love her. She took off and ran." I wiped my eyes as Clare leaned over, "She knew who I was all along? She bullied me because… she thought I was stealing you?"

I nodded, "She deserved me yelling at her though, and you never did anything to her to make her be all mean and hateful towards you. Clare I love you, and I want you to know that I would never hurt you in any way."

She smiled and grabbed my hand, "I know Eli," She placed her hand on my cheek and leaned forward, "I know you would do nothing to hurt me. But… why didn't you tell me about her?"  
>"I-I wanted to, I was going too. I didn't know she went to Degrassi." I started stuttering and getting really nervous.<br>"Eli, calm down. It's okay." She leaned in, placing a small kiss on my cheek and pulling me into a tight embrace.  
>"Really Clare, are you sure?" I asked again, pulling back to look into her eyes.<br>"I'm positive Eli, but we need to go before our reservation gets taken." She smiled and wiped away a loose tear. I nodded and drove off, with Clare's head rested on my shoulder and our fingers laced together.

**Clare**

I woke up from my mom banging on the door. I sighed and got up, grabbing my phone from the dresser, flipping it open to see a new text message from Eli. I smiled and opened the door to see an angry mother staring back at me.

"Why did you get home so late last night?" She asked placing her hands on her hips.  
>"I was out with some friends, I thought I told you." Oh no, she knew about Eli. I can't do this right now.<br>"Who are you texting, Clare?" She asked reaching out to grab my phone. I jerked my hand back and closed the text message.  
>"No one. Just, why did you get me up?" I asked walking passed her into the bathroom.<br>"You have a date tonight. A good friend of mine's nephew is in town, and he seems like your type of guy. I set you two up for a date tonight at 6:30."  
>"Mom! No, I'm going out with El…" I stopped myself. "I have plans."<p>

She stopped for a moment and looked down at her feet. "Can you just do this one thing for me, please."  
>"Mom—"<br>"Clare, I hardly ask you for anything. Just do this one thing for me tonight. I think you'll really like him. Maybe he'll take your mind off of… you know."  
>"Who Mom? Eli?"<p>

She nodded, "Clare. Please."  
>"I'll cancel. But only for tonight, who is he?"<br>"He's moving her next week, he might be attending Degrassi. His name is Jake. Jake Martin."

I sighed, "Alright, tell your friend I'll be ready at 6:30. He better be worth me canceling my other plans tonight."  
>"Alright," she kissed me on the head, "thank you, Clare."<br>I showed her a fake smile and watched her walk down the hall. I pulled out my phone and texted Eli.

_**Hey, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to cancel for tonight. –C**_

_**Why, is something wrong? –E**_

_**No, it's just… my mom being her, her friend set me and this boy up for a date tonight. My mom wouldn't let me cancel with him. –C**_

He took longer than I expected for him to reply

_**Oh. Do you know him?-E**_

_**No, but he will be attending Degrassi. Isn't that just wonderful? I don't even want to go, Eli. I would rather be with you. –C**_

_**Why can't you ditch him?-E**_

_**My mom gave me all this grief about it. I'll make it up to you though. Promise.-C**_

_**Call me as soon as it's over, please. Maybe we can hang out afterwards. :)-E**_

_**I'm looking forward to it. I love you, Eli. Don't forget that.-C**_

_**I love you too, Clare. I will never dream on forgetting it.-E**_

I smiled at the text and looked at the clock. 4:30. I decided that I should go on and get ready, so I jumped in the shower. I hummed a tune of a song that Eli showed me when we were little kids, smiling at the thought of us together.

I got done and wrapped a towel around my body, grabbing my phone to check the time or to see if I have any new messages.

_1 new text message- Eli_

I smiled and opened it.

_**Hey, um… Clare, I can't hang out tonight, my mom needs help with something at work. Movie date tomorrow? Anyways, I love you and have fun on your date. Don't forget about me. ;)- Eli**_

_**Sure, and it's alright… don't worry. I love you too.- Clare**_

I sighed and walked into my room, grabbing a pair of black jeans with a white shirt with black flowered designs going down the side. I grabbed a pair of my gray flats and applied a light pair of eyeliner on my eye with a light shade of eye shadow.__

"Honey, he's here." My mom said peeking through the doorway. "You look nice." She smiled and walked over to me, grabbing a bottle of perfume on my dresser.  
>"Mom, I don't need that." I said and walked passed her.<br>"Come on baby, just a little." She held the bottle up and sprayed a little on my wrist. I sighed and walked passed her, grabbing my silver purse.  
>"Bye Mom." I said, not giving her the chance to answer me back.<p>

I walked down the stairs slowly, wishing my mom had never set me up with this kid. First of all, I don't even know him. Second, I hate blind dates, and my mom knows it ever since she set me up with Drew Torres. Let's just say, he walked home drenched in coke and cake.

As I reached the last step, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.  
><em>"It's going to be okay, Clare. Get your shit together."<em>

I turned the corner and saw a tall boy standing there looking at family pictures. His back was facing mine, so I had to speak up.  
>"Um, Hi." I whispered softly making him jump and turn around.<p>

When he saw me, it seemed like his breath got caught in his throat. He looked like he's staring at the most beautiful girl in the world. "Um… hello, earth to Jake." I said motioning my hands in front of his face. He shook his head and walked over to me.

"So you're Clare." He did a half smile, which brought my thoughts back over to Eli.  
>"Yeah, and you're Jake. I've heard a lot about you." I smiled and stood there awkwardly.<br>"So, are you ready to go?" He asked, I looked up into his light green eyes, suddenly getting lost in them.

"_Snap out of it Clare, you love Eli. Eli… that's all you should be worried about. Eli."_

He walked in front of my and opened the front door, standing back to let me exit first. I smiled at him and walked out the front and down the steps.  
>"Where's your car?" I asked looking around my house.<br>"We're going to the park."  
>I nodded, slightly afraid of what was going to happen.<p>

We talked along the way, some awkward silences which ended as soon as we entered the park. I looked around and saw a small table under a lit up tree with lights all around it. This was absolutely beautiful.

"You did this?" I asked walking over to the small table looking back at him.  
>"Yeah, kind of." He smiled.<br>"Wow, Jake… this is amazing."

He only shrugged his shoulders and pulled the chair out for me; I smiled and sat down, waiting for him to take a seat as well.

The small dinner went on for about an hour, we talked about our families and how they were so close, but we've never met. We laughed at the smallest things but we didn't care. I was actually having a pretty good time. Jake seems like the person that I need to hang with. Not 'go out' with, because I'm with Eli. I'm just talking about the friend's thing.

By the time our date was over, he walked me home. He stood in front of me at my steps and took a deep breath, "We should do this again sometime." He grinned and shoved his hands in his pockets.  
>"Yes, of course."<br>'_Clare what are you doing?'  
><em>"Alright, so call me then?"  
>"Sure."<p>

Jake stepped closer and leaned down, pressing a light kiss on my cheek. I blushed a dark shade of red and we said our final goodbyes.

He walked down the steps and down the street, disappearing in the darkness. I sighed and opened the door walking up the stairs and into my bedroom. I threw on one of Eli's Dead Hand shirts and some sweats and crawled under the covers.

I pulled out my phone and sent Eli a small text.

_**Do you want to hang out tomorrow? I missed you. Goodnight babe, I love you. –C**_

_**OOO**_

**Did you like it? I might pull more on Eli and Imogen's story in the next chapter.  
>Don't kill me, please. This story is 10000% out of character, and I wrote this like weeks before the July 18<strong>**th**** premiere, so I had no idea how Jake or Imogen acted. So yes.**

**If you want more, review.**

**Like I've said in my other stories, I am fully aware that this MAY have some spelling errors or punctuation mistakes. Don't kill me with hate about that either. I'm using my laptop word thingy and it doesn't show the errors or all that jazz.**

**Well, Review, tell your friends, Degrassians, ect. Yeah.**

**Peace out girl scouts. **

**Stay Beautiful.**


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